Bomb Kills Sufi Leader At Shrine In Northwest Pakistan

Burnt rooms inside a prison are seen following a Taliban attack on a prison in Dera Ismail Khan last year.

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Bomb Kills Sufi Leader At Shrine In Northwest Pakistan

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Police say a bomb has killed a prominent religious leader and two of his guards at a Sufi shrine in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan.

Reuters reports that the blast occurred when Faqir Jamshed was presiding at a function – with thousands in attendance -- in the shrine near the city of Dera Ismail Khan on August 4.

However, Pakistani media says Jamshed and his guards were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the area.

The blast came as Pakistani police braced for a militant backlash against continuing military operations in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban has a strong presence.

Taliban extremists condemn Sufi Muslim devotees as "unIslamic" and have launched dozens of attacks on Sufi shrines in recent years.